According to the 2001 Communique for China's Land and Resourcespromulgated by the Ministry of Land and Resources, among the 156 mineral resources that can be exploited in China, there are nine energy resources, 54 metals, 90 non-metals and three other liquidsor gases.

　　Last year, China newly verified 1.64 billion tons of coal, 727 million tons of oil and 430 billion cubic meters of natural gas. Other mineral resources with comparatively large reserves include iron, copper, aluminum, lead, zinc, gold and sulfur.

　　In recent years, the Chinese government has intensified prospecting for minerals with the investment in geological explorations rising to 22.7 billion yuan (about 2.7 billion U.S. dollars) last year.

　　In addition, China also made an attempt to transfer the right of mineral prospecting and exploitation, making a total profit of 1.8 billion yuan (about 216 million U.S. dollars) last year.

　　Statistics show that the gross output value of China's mining industry reached 479 billion yuan (about 58 billion U.S. dollars) in 2001 with the yields of major mineral products, such as raw coal and crude oil, increasing remarkably.